11 comments:

We can. I was waiting for you to chew me out for diagnosing you without a full interview and mental status exam. Are you hearing any voices now? Any decreased need for sleep? Any thoughts that you're king of the bloggers? Any impulsive blogging? And why are we both up at 12:30?

But, seriously, Maybe TLP had access to his fMRI: [from APA] MIT's Technology Review (4/24, Brandt) reported, "Psychiatrists and neuroscientists are making extraordinary advances in understanding the psychopathic or sociopathic mind." Through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), "researchers in the United States, Germany, and elsewhere have started taking scans of the brains of psychopaths while the patients view horrific images." The Review continued, "When normal people view these images, fMRI scans light up to indicate heavy brain activity in sections of the emotion-generating limbic system, primarily the amygdala." However, in psychopathic patients, "these sections of the amygdala remain dark, showing greatly reduced activity or none at all. This phenomenon, known as limbic underactivation, may indicate that some of these people lack the ability to generate the basic emotions that keep primitive killer instincts in check." Still other researchers "see similar deficits from fMRI scans of the frontal cortex" and say "that frontal-deficit syndrome creates a psychopathic inability to rein in overly emotional, impulsive, and violent reactions to the slightest provocation." However, "some scientists say that this focus on the amygdala is too simplistic" and emphasize that "not all killers are psychopaths."

12:30am is a decent hour for sleep! My bedtime is around then on a nightly basis. :) Though the other night, I do believe I was out riding a motorcycle at that hour. It's amazing the changes the last 2 weeks have brought. There's a word for it: happiness! :)

Looking forward to reading your Grand Rounds. Good luck putting it all together.